Ayre: 'We Said No To Arsenal for Suarez'

Liverpool's Managing Director Ian Ayre has confirmed reports that Liverpool have received a bid from Arsenal for wantaway striker Luis Suarez. He also confirmed that Liverpool had rebuffed Arsenal's advances.

Ayre said, 'I've heard him say it would great to have an opportunity to play for Arsenal and likewise Rel Madrid. But He certainly hasn`t called me up and said he wants to leave.

'We had an offer which is fairly public from Arsenal. We said no to that offer, and as far as we`re concerned he turns up for training when he's due back. And we'll move foirard on that basis.

'We get offers for lots of our players at different times. Unless we get to a situation where that player absolutely doesn't want to be here and we don`t want him to be here then that's a different kettle of fish. Right now we'd love to see Luis put on a Liverpool shirt for this season and beyond and we hope that once he gets back things will settle down.'

It's understood that Arsenal had a bid of £30m turned down but have upped their offer to £35m for the Uruguayan striker.

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Latest rumour is Real are offering Higuain plus cash for Suarez. Not beyond the bounds of credibility. But they've already signed Isco and will Higuain really want to join a club with no champions league football?

Genuinely shocked that this turned out to be true. It also sounds like Ayre is pushing him to hand in a transfer request, he's blatantly saying that Liverpool will sell him if he says he doesn't want to be hear.
Still on the fence about this one. He's clearly a talented footballer and signing him would be a massive statement of intent .... but the guy is more trouble than he's worth. Not to mention the fact that he's sat out more than 18 games due to susspension in the last 18 months.

Can't believe it either. Have got a horrible feeling we won't hit any of our top targets and that Man Utd will get Fabregas because I'm sure Van Judas will have been raving about him and how they connected when at Arsenal and despite what Fabregas has said in the past this is footballers we're talking about. I get a feeling that Barca don't want to sell but will do if they get offers of around 30m and then Cesc will know he's not wanted and will leave.

The price we got for Cesc was pretty low considering the size of his contract. I don't think it's too far a stretch to imagine that was in there. Especially if Barca initially thought Cesc would be there for the next ten years.

Both great strikers but Suarez has been proven to be class,however I'm in the Higuain camp maintaining that he's young, less hastle with room for improvement. We shall see, we shall see. While cesc is the thing of wet dreams but I rate the possibility at zero, whilst going to United is zero minus one!

What people say is one thing but why they say it can sometimes be more telling. If Suarez hasn't even indicated to the club that he would like to leave let alone put in a transfer request then why is Ayre saying anything at all?

That's a decent point Amos, but it's been completely negated by the fact that Suarez has already appeared on television infront of millions of people and said he wants to leave Liverpool. Of course he did say he wanted to leave England alltogether, but that's another story entirely.

Was he as specific as that? The quotes I've seen seem more guarded. Along the lines of he'll 'study an offers' or rather his agent will and that he's 'flattered by interest'. If he has openly said he wants leave then that changes things.

"My reason for leaving is my family and my image, I don't feel comfortable here any more," said Suarez. "It is a difficult moment for me, my coach and my colleagues know that they [the British media] didn't treat me well.

But the nature of his comments would leave him needing to back peddle if he were to join us. The Sun printed an article last week saying Suarez admitted in private that the real reason he wants to leave is for CL football, which of course is completely unfounded, but knowing how dim Suarez can be, it's entirely likely he couldn't careless about the media and just wants to leave Liverpool.

Still dont think our interest in Suarez is anything but a tactic to force Real Madrid's hand with regard to Higuain. There are too many credible sources reporting that Higuain has agreed personal terms with us and now its only getting Madrid to agree to sell. Its clear that Suarez is angling for Madrid, not us so a transaction that suits all three clubs is what hopefully will come out of this wrangle. Suarez is an awesome player but so not worth the trouble and it would be totally out of character for AW to ignore the personal side of a player while valuing his talent.

Delta - I'm not entirely sure how transfers work, but I'm pretty sure clubs and players never discuss personal terms with a player until a fee has been agreed, what would be the point? The Real prez also says we haven't even bid for him. Of course that could be a tactic too. However I'm not sure a £30M bid is a tactic, that's a pretty sizable bid, I don't think it would take too much more to get Liverpool to agree .... infact as long as Suarez hands in a transfer request I reckon they'd happily be rid of the baggage.

I'm genuinely scratching my head over this pursuit of Suarez- it's so out of character for Wenger to go for a player who -while he is certainly very talented- comes with as much baggage as Joan Collins on holiday. He's going to start the new season banned and he has a huge bullseye on his back now with regard to referees and the press. Signing him would make me very, very nervous. I'd rather have Higuain and and scupper any United bid for Cesc.

Rocky, what you are saying is exactly how transfers are supposed to be conducted - by the book. However, many clubs take the route of negotiating with the player shortly after transfer discussions wih the selling club start after getting a verbal go ahead from the selling club. Graham Hunter and Sid Lowe, two prominent Spain based journalists believe that Madrid had one price for Higuian at the start of negotiations and another higher price currently. Apparently Madrid have moved the goalposts on the price front despite no competition for Higuain from another club.

Suarez's disciplinary record is a concern, but given Wenger's penchant for running his preferred players into the ground - le zone rouge in his terms - Suarez might need the odd suspension to stay fresh.

I'm not sitting on the fence on this one Rocky, just going to say 'hell no' to Suarez. He's just too much trouble, I don't like the guy and I will find it very difficult to get behind him. It's very easy to get caught up with media reports and I dont know what to believe. Some stating that Suarez is now Wenger's primary target - lots going on behind the scenes I guess. I would very much prefer Higuain - if Madrid are now asking for more money, as long as it's less than the 30-35M quoted for Suarez, we should pay it.

I'm really praying that Cesc does not sign for ManU - my heart sank when i read of ManU's interest in him. I still find it difficult to see RvP playing for that lot, I don't know whether I can deal with both RvP & Cesc playing for them. God, I hope that doesn't happen.

I'm inclined to agree with you prits. There probably would come a time when as a group of fans we'd probably forget our morals and be cheering him on .... presumably when he scored the winner vs spurs. I still don't think it will happen though.

The t'internet is a buzz with the rumour Arsene is readying up a £40M bid for Suarez. This is mental. But it's what we've all been asking for. And lets face it, we have more of a chance of winning silverware with Suarez than without him. I just hope that if he does come he leaves all his stupidity at Anfield.

If it's on the internet it must be true, especially if it's on either Twitter or a blog. We apparently bid £30m for Mr McBiteypants but we knew that would be rejected- it was just floated to see if Suarez was interested. Wenger won't pay £40m (nor should he), but the point of the exercise was to get Suarez to hand in a transfer request. Until he does you can put this transfer in the 'no' column.

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